The Queen's
Messenger

In September 1928, W2XB (owned by General Electric's WGY)
in Schenectady, NY televised the first dramatic program in the
United States, "The
Queen's Messenger," by J. Harley Manners, a blood and thunder play with
guns, daggers, and poison. There were more technicians required for
special effects than there were actors. In fact, technical limitations
were so great and viewing screens so small, that only the actor's
individual hands or faces could be seen at one time. Three cameras were
used, two for the characters and a third for obtaining images of gestures
and appropriate stage props. Two assistant actors displayed their hands
before this third camera whenever the occasion demanded.

E. F.W. Alexanderson, General Electric's engineer in
charge of television, remembered the presentation as "a little drama, a
playlet, that was not a great work of art by any means." The director was
a man brought up from New York City especially to work on the play.
Everyone became very annoyed with him when he kept calling his rehearsals
at 4:00 a.m.

According to the New York Herald Tribune's article of
September 11, 1928, "...Director Mortimer Stewart stood between the two
television cameras that focused upon Miss Isetta Jewell, the heroine and
Maurice Randall, the hero. In front of Stewart was a television receiver
in which he could at all times see the images that went out over the
transmitter; and by means of a small control box he was able to control
the output of pictures, cutting in one or another of the cameras and
fading the image out and in. Whether it was successfully received at any
point, other than the operation installation of the General Electric
Laboratory, could not immediately be ascertained. It was the general
opinion among those that watched the experiment that the day of radio
moving pictures was still a long, long way in the future. Whether the
present system can be brought to commercial practicability and public
usefulness, remains a question." With all its technical weaknesses,
however, "The Queen's Messenger" marked the first step toward modern
dramatic programs.

The rear of the Octagon is visible on the left

The "Hero" in the play, Maurice Randall (right) with
other cast members